Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination A+E Networks Introduction On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War. Google Abraham Lincoln’s killer, John Wilkes Booth , was a Maryland native born in 1838 who remained in the North during the Civil War despite his Confederate sympathies. As the conflict entered its final stages, he and several associates hatched a plot to kidnap the president and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital. However, on March 20, 1865, the day of the planned kidnapping, Lincoln failed to appear at the spot where Booth and his six fellow conspirators lay in wait. Two weeks later, Richmond fell to Union forces. In April, with Confederate armies near collapse across the South, Booth came up with a desperate plan to save the Confederacy. Did You Know?

The search for John Wilkes Booth was one of the largest manhunts in history, with 10,000 federal troops, detectives and police tracking down the assassin. Learning that Lincoln was to attend Laura Keene’s acclaimed performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington , D.C., on April 14, Booth—himself a well-known actor at the time—masterminded the simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward. By murdering the president and two of his possible successors, Booth and his co-conspirators hoped to throw the U.S. government into disarray. Lincoln occupied a private box above the stage with his wife Mary, a young army officer named Henry Rathbone and Rathbone’s fiancé, Clara Harris, the daughter of New York Senator Ira Harris. The Lincolns arrived late for the comedy, but the president was reportedly in a fine mood and laughed heartily during the production. History Channel Online Course – Lincoln Assassination At 10:15, Booth slipped into the box and fired his .44-caliber single-shot derringer into the back of Lincoln’s head.

After stabbing Rathbone, who immediately rushed at him, in the shoulder, Booth leapt onto the stage and shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus ever to tyrants!”–the Virginia state motto). At first, the crowd interpreted the unfolding drama as part of the production, but a scream from the first lady told them otherwise. Although Booth broke his leg in the fall, he managed to leave the theater and escape from Washington on horseback. A 23-year-old doctor named Charles Leale was in the audience and hastened to the presidential box immediately upon hearing the shot and Mary Lincoln’s scream. He found the president slumped in his chair, paralyzed and struggling to breathe. Several soldiers carried Lincoln to a house across the street and placed him on a bed. When the surgeon general arrived at the house, he concluded that Lincoln could not be saved and would die during the night. Vice President Andrew Johnson, members of Lincoln’s cabinet and several of the president’s closest friends stood vigil by Lincoln’s bedside until he was officially pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. The first lady lay on a bed in an adjoining room with her eldest son Robert at her side, overwhelmed with shock and grief.

The president’s body was placed in a temporary coffin, draped with a flag and escorted by armed cavalry to the White House , where surgeons conducted a thorough autopsy. Edward Curtis, an Army surgeon in attendance, later described the scene, recounting that a bullet clattered into a waiting basin during the doctors’ removal of Lincoln’s brain. He wrote that the team stopped to stare at the offending weapon, “the cause of such mighty changes in the world’s history as we may perhaps never realize.” During the autopsy, Mary Lincoln sent the surgeons a note requesting that they clip a lock of Lincoln’s hair for her. News of the president’s death traveled quickly, and by the end of the day flags across the country flew at half-mast, businesses were closed and people who had recently rejoiced at the end of the Civil War now reeled from Lincoln’s shocking assassination. The president’s corpse was taken to the White House, and on April 18 it was carried to the Capitol rotunda to lay in state on a catafalque. On April 21, Lincoln’s body was boarded onto a train that conveyed it to Springfield, Illinois , where he had lived before becoming president.

Tens of thousands of Americans lined the railroad route and paid their respects to their fallen leader during the train’s solemn progression through the North. Lincoln and his son, Willie, who died in the White House of typhoid fever in 1862, were interred on May 4, 1865, at Oak Ridge Cemetery, near Springfield. As the nation mourned, Union soldiers were hot on the trail of John Wilkes Booth, who many in the audience had immediately recognized. After fleeing the capital, he and an accomplice, David Herold, made their way across the Anacostia River and headed toward southern Maryland. The pair stopped at the home of Samuel Mudd, a doctor who treated Booth’s leg. (Mudd’s actions earned him a life sentence that was later commuted). They then sought refuge from Thomas A. Jones, a Confederate agent, before securing a boat to row across the Potomac to Virginia. On April 26, Union troops surrounded the Virginia farmhouse where Booth and Herold were hiding out and set fire to it, hoping to flush the fugitives out. Herold surrendered but Booth remained inside.

As the blaze intensified, a sergeant shot Booth in the neck, allegedly because the assassin had raised his gun as if to shoot. Carried out of the building alive, he lingered for three hours before gazing at his hands and uttering his last words: “Useless, useless.” Four of Booth’s co-conspirators were convicted for their part in the assassination and executed by hanging on July 7, 1865. They included David Herold and Mary Surratt , the first woman put to death by the federal government, whose boarding house had served as a meeting place for the would-be kidnappers. Tags Assassination of President Lincoln | Theatre Assassination Powered By VerisignTM Assassination of Abraham Lincoln On Friday April 14, 1865, the United States of America was shocked when President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The president was at Ford's Theater attending a play called Our American Cousin, and he was assassinated by an actor named John Wilkes Booth. But John Wilkes Booth was no ordinary actor at Ford's Theater. Booth was a highly respected actor who used his charisma, charm, and good looks to forge a very successful career on stages around the country.

The assassination of the president was only one part of a conspiracy that Booth concocted to overthrow the entire United States government. Booth had targeted the vice president and several other members of the federal government for assassination by his cohorts on the same night he was to kill the president, but Booth would be the only person who would succeed in eliminating his target. Prior to the assassination, on March 17, 1865, Booth and his group attempted to kidnap President Lincoln as the president left Campbell Military Hospital after attending a play called Still Waters Run Deep. But the plan was thwarted when the president decided to attend a different military ceremony instead of attending the play. It was at that point that Booth indicated that he had plans to kill the president as the president gave his inaugural address, but he could not get close enough to the president to pull off his plan. Booth vowed to get the job done, and he chose April 14 as his date. Approximately 10 days before the assassination, President Lincoln revealed to his wife, Mary Todd, that he had a dream about people weeping in the White House over the death of an important figure.

When the president asked a soldier in his dream who everyone was crying about, the solider said, "the president." The timing of that dream was never lost on Mary Todd Lincoln, and she often referred to it when discussing the assassination in subsequent interviews. The day of the assassination, Booth had awoken at around midnight and started writing letters to his mother and other family members indicating that he was about to make a decisive move for what he called "their important cause." He spent the day making arrangements with his conspirators and then headed over to Ford's Theater to collect his mail and make his plans for the night. The president had a very pleasant day leading up to the assassination, but he had been disappointed when his son decided to stay home for the night and sleep. Lincoln's son had fought in the Civil War and had just arrived home to the White House a few days earlier. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his wife were supposed to accompany the president to the theater that night, but they had to cancel for personal reasons. In the general's place was sent Maj. Henry Rathbone and his wife. While the major was not necessarily sent as a security guard, his military experience was thought to offer the president an additional layer of security.

At approximately 10:25 p.m., Booth used his status as a familiar actor to the theater's staff to gain access to the outer lobby of the president's box. Booth was surprised to see that there were no security guards anywhere in the lobby, so he slowly opened the door to the president's box and prepared his Philadelphia Derringer pistol to be fired. Booth waited for a line in the play that elicited a particularly loud round of laughter from the audience, and that is when he lurched forward and shot President Lincoln once in the back of the head. After firing the fatal shot, Booth leaped from the box to the stage shouting the Virginia state motto, "Sic semper tyrannis!", which is Latin for "Thus always the tyrants!" As Booth leaped to the stage, he caught the spur of his boot on the American flag that draped over the president's box and fell to the stage in an awkward manner. He broke his leg and limped off the stage as quickly as he could. The entire theater, audience and theater staff included, thought that what had happened was part of the show.

But when Mary Todd Lincoln shouted out, "He's shot the president!" and Rathbone shouted, "Stop that man!", the audience and actors slowly realized that what had happened was real. By the time everyone was able to grasp the situation, Booth had escaped the theater and was headed for what he thought was safety in the former Confederate States of America. References To learn more about the Lincoln assassination, look at the following sites: The Peterson House : After Booth shot President Lincoln, the president was rushed across the street to the Peterson House, where he died the next morning. Historical Medical Sites in the Washington, D.C., Area : It is not widely known that two years after the assassination of the president, the U.S. Army turned Ford's Theater into a temporary hospital. The Assassination of President Lincoln : This is a quick review of the assassination of the president using some of the more famous images inspired by the event. The Lincoln Assassination: Selected Images From the Library of Congress : It can be chilling to look at actual photographs and see the artists' renderings of the people and events that took place in Ford's Theater that night.

The Case of Abraham Lincoln's Assassination Pistol : Even though the FBI was not operating in 1865, that did not stop the federal investigators of today from putting together a case file on the gun used in the assassination of President Lincoln. Andrew Johnson : Immediately after the assassination of President Lincoln, Andrew Johnson was sworn in as president of the United States. The Autopsy of President Lincoln : Read the actual autopsy report from the assassination of President Lincoln here. Death of Abraham Lincoln, April 15-26, 1865 : Sometimes, seeing the actual documents that were handwritten to announce the tragic death of President Lincoln can give a historical perspective on the event. Biography of John Wilkes Booth : John Wilkes Booth enjoyed a life of fame and luxury before deciding to give it all up for a cause that only he believed in. Character and Death of Abraham Lincoln : You can get a very good understanding of how people felt about President Lincoln when you read newspaper accounts of his life and death from 1865. The Assassination of President Lincoln : The assassination of Lincoln was so enthralling to the public that it appeared in a chapter of the book "Behind the Scenes," published in 1868.

The Lincoln Presidency: Last Full Measure of Devotion : When President Lincoln was assassinated, even the South realized it had lost someone who would fight for the rights of every human being. Diary Account of the Assassination of President Lincoln : Otis Keene was a Civil War veteran who wrote about the pain the whole country felt when President Lincoln was assassinated. Lincoln's Last Night : The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association brings together a wide variety of resources to give as many details as possible about the life and death of President Lincoln. Theater Seating Lincoln Papers: Lincoln Assassination: Introduction The Martyr of liberty... [n. p., n. d.] (Library of Congress, Stern Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.) On the evening of April 14, 1865, while attending a special performance of the comedy, "Our American Cousin," President Abraham Lincoln was shot. Accompanying him at Ford's Theater that night were his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone's fiancee, Clara Harris.

After the play was in progress, a figure with a drawn derringer pistol stepped into the presidential box, aimed, and fired. The president slumped forward. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, dropped the pistol and waved a dagger. Rathbone lunged at him, and though slashed in the arm, forced the killer to the railing. Booth leapt from the balcony and caught the spur of his left boot on a flag draped over the rail, and shattered a bone in his leg on landing. Though injured, he rushed out the back door, and disappeared into the night on horseback. A doctor in the audience immediately went upstairs to the box. The bullet had entered through Lincoln's left ear and lodged behind his right eye. He was paralyzed and barely breathing. He was carried across Tenth Street, to a boarding-house opposite the theater, but the doctors' best efforts failed. Nine hours later, at 7:22 AM on April 15th, Lincoln died. President Lincoln's funeral procession in New York City. From Harper's Weekly, May 13, 1865. (Library of Congress, Stern Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

) At almost the same moment Booth fired the fatal shot, his accomplice, Lewis Paine, attacked Lincoln's Secretary of State, William Henry Seward. Seward lay in bed, recovering from a carriage accident. Paine entered the mansion, claiming to have a delivery of medicine from the Secretary's doctor. Seward's son, Frederick, was brutally beaten while trying to keep Paine from his father's door. Paine slashed the Secretary's throat twice, then fought his way past Seward's son Augustus, an attending hospital corps veteran, and a State Department messenger. Paine escaped into the night, believing his deed complete. However, a metal surgical collar saved Seward from certain death. The Secretary lived another seven years, during which he retained his seat with the Johnson administration, and purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. There were at least four conspirators in addition to Booth involved in the mayhem. Booth was shot and captured while hiding in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, and died later the same day, April 26, 1865.

Four co-conspirators, Paine, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt, were hanged at the gallows of the Old Penitentiary, on the site of present-day Fort McNair, on July 7, 1865. Lincoln Assassination Lincoln Assassination Abraham Lincoln Quotes Lincoln Assassination Good Friday, April 14th 1865 at 10pm President Abraham Lincoln was attending “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s theatre, with his wife and two guests, but no bodyguard. Lincoln was shot in the back of the head at point blank range by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln died the next day, after never waking from the coma. However, this wasn’t the initial plot. Originally Lincoln was to be kidnapped when he was attending a play named “still waters run deep” at Campbell Military Hospital. Booth had planned to kidnap Lincoln, hold him hostage to force the government to use their earlier policy of exchanging prisoners. He had got together a group of conspirators to assist him, who gathered in a restaurant near town in order to ambush the presidents ride home from the hospital.

However, Lincoln had instead organised to attend a ceremony at the National Hotel that night. Booth’s plan was postponed, but after he attended a speech by President Lincoln outside the white house, Booth became furious at the prospect of Lincoln giving support for voting rights for black people. At this point, Booth changed his plan from a kidnap and hostage, to assassination; but not just of President Lincoln, but his Vice President and Secretary of State at the same time. When Booth heard of Lincoln attending Ford’s theatre, he assembled his group of conspirators. Booth knew the Ford’s theatre well, and upon arriving at the backdoor at 9pm, he handed his horse to Joseph Burrows, also known as peanuts. Booth made his way into the theatre and into the hallway between Lincoln’s box and the Balcony, barricading the door behind him. As Booth knew the play he waited for the right moment, which he hoped the laughter would muffle the gun shot. Mrs Lincoln whispered to Abraham “What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?” as Abraham Lincoln replied “She won’t think anything about it.” – Lincolns last words.

Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head, causing him to slump over his chair unconscious, as Booth attempted to escape; Major Rathbone tried to stop him, but was violently stabbed with Booth’s knife. As Booth vaulted over the rail, his riding spur caught on a decorative flag, causing Booth to fall face first into the audience, breaking his left foot. He then shouted “Sic semper tyrannis” which stands for “Thus always to tyrants” before charging out the door, onto his horse before he galloped off to the Navy Yard Bridge to meet his conspirators. Lincoln had no pulse, but once Charles Leale, an army surgeon got to him, and removed a blood clot, his breathing improved. Lincoln was in a deep coma, and was moved across the street, however not much could be done to save him. The next day, at 7:22 am Lincoln was pronounced dead. Abraham Lincoln's assassination - Abraham Lincoln's assassination: 150th anniversary of national tragedy - Pictures - CBS News April 14, 2016 marks 151 years since the murder of the 16th president -- and some facts about the assassination may surprise you.

A copy of a hand-colored 1870 lithographic print by Gibson & Co. provided by the U.S. Library of Congress shows John Wilkes Booth shooting U.S. President Abraham Lincoln as he sits in the presidential box at Ford's Theatre in Washington April 14, 1865. Major Henry Rathbone rushes to try to stop Booth as Rathbone's fiancee Clara Harris (L) and first lady Mary Todd Lincoln (2nd L) look on. Credit: Gibson & Co./U.S. Library of Congress/REUTERS Abraham Lincoln's assassination John Wilkes Booth, holding a cane, shown sometime between 1860 and 1865, location unknown. Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, Washington D.C., on April 14, 1865. Credit: AP Photo/Library of Congress Abraham Lincoln's assassination Lithograph depicting Abraham Lincoln's assassin, actor John Wilkes Booth, being goaded by a Mephistophelian figure to shoot the unsuspecting president, who is visible in a theater box beyond. Credit: John L.

Magee/Library of Congress Abraham Lincoln's assassination The presidential box, decorated identically to the way it was the night of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's assassination in 1865, is seen at Ford's Theatre in Washington, March 31, 2015. Credit: Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS Abraham Lincoln's assassination John Wilkes Booth, right, enters the box at Ford's Theater while the President and Mrs. Lincoln enjoy the play "Our American Cousin" in a scene that depicts that fateful night of April 14, 1865, in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Ill., Thursday, March 24, 2005. Credit: AP Photo/Seth Perlman Abraham Lincoln's assassination The headline of The National News reports on the shooting of President Abraham Lincoln in Washington April 14, 1865, in this archive image from the Library of Congress. Credit: Library of Congress/REUTERS Abraham Lincoln's assassination When Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, he was attending a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington. Pictured is Lincoln's original theatre program, blemished by his fatal blood stains.

Credit: ho/AP Abraham Lincoln's assassination An educational prop showing the reward offered for John Wilkes Booth is seen after Abraham Lincoln presenter and historian John Voehl gave a history lecture to students at Vandenberg Middle School at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on March 27, 2015. Credit: Lucy Nicholson/REUTERS Abraham Lincoln's assassination A scene in front of the Capitol during Lincoln's second inauguration, 1865, just six weeks before his assassination. Credit: AP Photo Abraham Lincoln's assassination In this March 17, 2015 photo, John Wilkes Booth's pistol used to kill President Abraham Lincoln is displayed at an exhibit entitled "Silent Witnesses: Artifacts of the Lincoln Assassination" at the Ford's Center for Education and Leadership across the street from the historic Ford's Theatre, in Washington. The exhibit coincided with the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln assassination on April 14.

Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File Abraham Lincoln's assassination Nancy Buenger, a textile conservator at the Chicago Historical Society in Chicago, holds a portion of a blouse Monday, June 28, 1999, that belonged to actress, Laura Keene, who allegedly held the head of Abraham Lincoln the night he was shot at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C., as the blood-covered cape worn by Mary Todd Lincoln the night he was assassinated is seen at left. Credit: AP Photo/Charles Bennett Abraham Lincoln's assassination A large photograph depicting President Abraham Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth is displayed at an exhibit entitled "Silent Witnesses: Artifacts of the Lincoln Assassination," March 17, 2015 at the Ford's Center for Education and Leadership across the street from the historic Ford's Theatre, in Washington. Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik Abraham Lincoln's assassination President Abraham Lincoln is seen in a seated portrait taken by Anthony Berger in Washington February 9, 1864. The image from this sitting was the basis for the engraved portrait on the U.S. five dollar bill, according to the Library of Congress.

Credit: REUTERS/Library of Congress/Anthony Berger Abraham Lincoln's assassination Crowds are seen gathered along Pennsylvania Avenue to view the funeral procession of President Abraham Lincoln in this archive image from the Library of Congress taken in Washington, April 19, 1865. President Lincoln's funeral was held at the White House and his body was moved to the U.S. Capitol where he lay in state before traveling by rail to Springfield, Illinois, where he was buried. Credit: Library of Congress/REUTERS Abraham Lincoln's assassination President Abraham Lincoln's blood-stained gloves that were tucked into his coat pocket at the time of his assassination are displayed at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois on March 21, 2015. Credit: Whitney Curtis/REUTERS Abraham Lincoln's assassination President Abraham Lincoln is seen in a stereo photo card taken by U.S. government photographer Lewis Emory Walker in Washington in February 1865. Lincoln was killed two months later. Credit: Library of Congress/Anthony Berger/REUTERS Abraham Lincoln's assassination Lincoln's beaver skin top hat and the opera glasses he was using the night of the assassination.

Credit: AP Photo Abraham Lincoln's assassination This is an undated photo of a sketch of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. The general and his wife were supposed to accompany Lincoln and the First Lady to Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865 but backed out. The reason? Mrs. Grant couldn't stand Mrs. Lincoln. Credit: AP Photo Abraham Lincoln's assassination Other U.S. presidents have been the targets of assassins. A deranged house painter tried to kill President Andrew Jackson in 1835. President Abraham Lincoln was killed by John Wilkes Booth. President James Garfield was mortally wounded by a disgruntled job seeker. President William McKinley was killed by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist factory worker. Credit: AP Photo Abraham Lincoln's assassination A copy of a 1865 lithographic print by Currier & Ives provided by the U.S. Library of Congress shows John Wilkes Booth shooting U.S. President Abraham Lincol n as he sits in the presidential box at Ford's Theatre in Washington April 14, 1865.

Major Henry Rathbone rises to try to stop Booth as Rathbone's fiancee Clara Harris (2nd L) and first lady Mary Todd Lincoln (C) look on. For more archival images of Abraham Lincoln, click here . Credit: Gibson & Co./U.S. Library of Congress/Handout/REUTERS CBSNews.com The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln - YouTube The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Nov 19, 2008 Originally, John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland, had formulated a plan to kidnap Lincoln in exchange for the release of Confederate prisoners. After attending an April 11 speech in which Lincoln promoted voting rights for blacks, an incensed Booth changed his plans and determined to assassinate the president.

Learning that the President and First Lady would be attending Ford's Theatre, he laid his plans, assigning his co-conspirators to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward. Without his main bodyguard Ward Hill Lamon, to whom he related his famous dream regarding his own assassination, Lincoln left to attend the play Our American Cousin on April 14, 1865. As a lone bodyguard wandered, and Lincoln sat in his state box (Box 7) in the balcony, Booth crept up behind the President and waited for what he thought would be the funniest line of the play ("You sock-dologizing old man-trap"), hoping the laughter would muffle the noise of the gunshot. When the laughter began, Booth jumped into the box and aimed a single-shot, round-slug 0.44 caliber Henry Deringer at his head, firing at point-blank range. Major Henry Rathbone momentarily grappled with Booth but was cut by Booth's knife. Booth then leapt to the stage and shouted "Sic semper tyrannis!" (Latin: Thus always to tyrants) and escaped, despite a broken leg suffered in the leap.

A twelve-day manhunt ensued, in which Booth was chased by Federal agents (under the direction of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton). He was eventually cornered in a Virginia barn house and shot, dying of his wounds soon after. Lincoln's funeral train carried his remains, as well as 300 mourners and the casket of his son, William, 1,654 miles (2,661 km) to IllinoisAn army surgeon, Doctor Charles Leale, initially assessed Lincoln's wound as mortal. The President was taken across the street from the theater to the Petersen House, where he lay in a coma for nine hours before dying. Several physicians attended Lincoln, including U.S. Army Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes of the Army Medical Museum. Using a probe, Barnes located some fragments of Lincoln's skull and the ball lodged 6 inches (15 cm) inside his brain. Lincoln never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at 7:22:10 a.m. April 15, 1865. There is some disagreement among historians as to Stanton's words after Lincoln died.

All agree that he began "Now he belongs to the..." with some stating he said "ages" while others believe he said "angels." After Lincoln's body was returned to the White House, a brain-only autopsy was performed, and his body was prepared for his lying in repose in the East Room. He was the first president to be assassinated or to lie in state. Category President Abraham Lincoln Assassinated President Abraham Lincoln Assassinated "Silent Witnesses: Artifacts of the Lincoln Assassination" President Abraham Lincoln on his death bed. (Library of Congress) On the night of April 14th, just five days after the formal surrender of Lee’s army at Appomattox, Va., President Lincoln was assassinated while attending a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, slipped into the presidential box while Lincoln enjoyed the satirical play Our American Cousin in the company of his wife, Mary Todd, and a young Union officer and wife.

Armed with a small Derringer pistol and dagger, Booth waited patiently for the perfect moment to strike, and just as the funniest line of the play arrived, he shot Lincoln behind his left ear – the bullet lodging near his right eye. As Lincoln slumped forward in his chair, Booth leapt over the rail of the box and fell awkwardly on the stage below, breaking in ankle in the process. As Booth ran across the stage he let out the Virginia State Motto, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (thus always to tyrants), before making his way out of the theater for his horse awaiting him. Lincoln was rushed across the street to the William Petersen’s boarding house, and laid diagonally across a bed which was too small for the mortally wounded man. Lincoln lingered for hours under the solemn vigil of cabinet officials and surgeons, when, at 7:22am the following morning, he slipped away. Abraham Lincoln, the man who had led the nation through the most trying and horrific of times, in death became more than just a man.

As Lincoln's life slipped away, Secretary of War Edward Stanton is said to have remarked, “He now belongs to the angels,” although some also insist that Stanton said "ages." 1865-04-14 FrancisHistory - Abraham Lincoln's Assassination FrancisHistory Abraham Lincoln's AssassinationAbigail P. Baskin Table of Contents Bibliography Introduction Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865. Lincoln was attending the play "Our American Cousin" at the Ford Theater in Washington D.C. Booth shot Lincoln while he was watching the show and then ran away, breaking his leg in the process. Lincoln was rushed to a boarding-house across the street by a doctor who had been attending the play and died in the house nine hours later. During this time Lincoln's Secretary of State (William Henry Seward) was being attacked by Booth's main accomplice, Lewis Paine, who failed to kill him. These two assassins were against Lincoln and his political ideas, which is what motivatedthem to murder of the 16th president of the United States of America.

Lincoln represented everything that Booth was against, and Booth blamed him for all the problems in the south. He wanted revenge. Booth Shooting Lincoln The Main Characters Abraham Lincoln: The 16th president of the U.S.A., victim of the aforementioned assassination, and was known for approving the Emancipation Proclamation. John Wilkes Booth: Lincoln's Assassin, supporter of the institution of slavery, part of organization which tried to reduce immigration into the U.S.A., and during the Civil War worked as a Confederate secret agent. Lewis Powell: Booth's main co-conpirator, alias of "Lewis Paine", tried to assassinate Lincoln's Secretary of State at the same time as Booth tried to assassinate Lincoln, and he was a soldier for the Confederacy. Henry R. Rathbone: A major in the Union Army, was with Lincoln on the night of his assassination and stopped Booth from immediately finishing killing Lincoln, was haunted by the events and went crazy and killed his fiancee Clara Harris and attempted unsuccessful suicide, subsequently deemed insane and sent to an insane asylum in Germany.

William Henry Seward: Lincoln's Secretary of State, victim of attempted assassination by Lewis Powell as part of Booth's plan, not killed because was wearing a surgical collar around his neck which blocked Powell's attempts. Abraham Lincoln The Original Plan Originally John Wilkes Booth started to plan to kidnap Lincoln in 1864. By January 1865 he had organized a group of co-conspirators including Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlen, John Suratt (they used Mary Suratt's house as a meeting place), Lewis Powell (a.k.a. Leiw Paine), George Atzerodt, David Henry. He also additionally met with Dr. Samuel Mudd. On March 17, 1865 Booth planned to take Lincoln to Richmond and hold him, using him to get the return of Confederate prisoners of war. He saw this as necessary action, in part, to gain back Confederate soldiers that the North had captured. He would use Lincoln as a bartering tool for them, because prisoners were no longer being traded. He planned to kidnap Lincoln from a play he would attend at a hospital on the outskirts of Washington of D.C.

Lincoln changed his plans, though, and decided to stay in the capitol and attend a different play. John Wilkes Booth's plans failed, accordingly. The White House in 1865 (Lincoln can be seen standing in front of it in the distance) A Change in Plans General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at the battle at Appomattox. Two Days later Lincoln spoke to a small crowd of gathering people outside The Whitehouse. In his speech Lincoln mentioned the possibility of voting rights being given to certain blacks. Booth was furious and his plans quickly changed from the kidnapping of Lincoln to his assassination. Booth's Preparation John Wilkes Booth went to the Ford Theater that morning, April 14, 1865 and confirmed that Abraham Lincoln and Genera The Ford Theater in 1865 l Grant would be attending a performance there that night. He later found out that General Grant would not be attending the play and would be out of town. Afte Me (Abby Baskin) in Front of the Ford Theater in 2008 r Booth secured this information, he held a last meeting with his co-conspirators.

They decided that Booth would kill Lincoln at the theater, George Atzerodt would kill Andrew Johnson (the Vice President at the time), and that Lewis Powell would kill William Seward (Lincoln's Secretary of State). John Wilkes Booth felt this needed to be done, because it would create chaos and confusion within the Union government, and give the South a chance at power. All these murders were planned to go down at approximately 10:15 that night. The Attack On Lincoln On the evening of April 14, 1865 Lincoln attended the play "Oue American Cousin" at the Ford Theater in Washington D.C. He sat in the "presidential box" or "state box" with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln; Major Henry R. Rathbone; and Rathbone's fiancee, Clara Harris. As the play went on, Booth entered the box and shot Lincoln with a derringer pistol (his security guard had stepped away). The bullet went through Lincoln's left ear and lodged behind his right eye. After Booth shot Lincoln, he pulled a dagger, but Rathbone forced him to the railing. Then Booth was forced to leap from the balcony, and broke his leg in the process.

He did get away, however, and rode a horse from the scene of the crime. Lincoln lay on the floor, shot, paralyzed, and barely breathing. Lincoln's Box at The Ford Theater The Attack on William Seward At the same time, Lewis Powell tried to attack William Seward. He went into Seward's house, pretending to be delivering medicine, because Seward was in bed and recovering from a carriage accident. Powell forced his way past Seward's son, Frederick, and gained entry to the room (Frederick was badly beaten in the process). Powell slashed Seward's throat twice, and beat his way past Seward's other son, Augustus, a hospital corps veteran, and a state department messenger to escape. He fled the house, believing the deed was done. Seward Lives William Seward was extremely lucky at Lewis Powell's attempted assassination. He was wearing a metal surgical collar which saved his life. This is because the collar blocked Powell's slashes to his throat. Seward continued on to do many more things and lived another seven years after the incident.

The Death of a President A Plaque In the Bedroom Where Lincoln Died (now a tourist attraction) After Booth escaped from the Ford Theater and the scene of Abraham Lincoln's murder, a doctor in the crowd went up to the President's Box and tried to help Lincoln. Lincoln was then transported from the theater to a boarding-house across the street (Tenth Street). The doctor tried, but Lincoln could not be saved and died nine hours later, at 7:22 a.m. on April 15th, 1865. What Happened to the Assassins and Co-conspirators After fleeing Washington D.C., Booth went to Virginia. He was finally found by police in Bowling Green, Va. He was then captured and fatally shot, dying on April 26, 1865. John Wilkes Booth's main co-conspirators (Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt) were hung at the gallows of the "Old Penitentiary" on July 7, 1865.

How Lincoln's Death Affected the Nation Several hours after Lincoln's assassination the vice president at the time, Andrew Johnson, was sworn into the presidency by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. The president's responsibility was to repair the broken U.S.A. and Johnson turned out to be ill fitted for this job. He was impeached from being the president for his poor job at fixing the United States. This led to a shift in power in the government as he was replaced. Ultimately, Lincoln's death led to a difficult political time for the United States of America. Fun Facts 1. Booth was an actor before the Civil War, and had acted in the Ford Theater where he shot Lincoln. 2. Lincoln was too tall for the bed they put him in while sick in the bording-house, and so the people who helped him had to lay him diagonally across the bed. 3. Booth new the play "Our American Cousin" and waited for a specific crowd-laugh to shot Lincoln, hoping the noise would cover the gunshot and create confusion. 4.

Ward Hill Lamon was Lincoln's usual bodygaurd, but per Lincoln's request he was in Richmond that night, so Mary Todd Lincoln called a replacement named John Parker, who had stepped away and gave Booth an easy path to the president, unknowingly. 5. When Booth lept from the balcony to the stage, it was a 12 foot jump! Link 1860 Election Bibliography 1. Bates, Christopher. "Abraham Lincoln, assassination of." In Waugh, Joan, and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1856 to 1869, vol. 5. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003.American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. < ? ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHV015&SingleRecord=True>. Accessed May 16, 2009. 2. "Henry R. Rathbone (1837 - 1911) Union Major; Was Present in President's Box at Ford's Theater when Lincoln was Assassinated". The Inkwell Autograph Gallery.

Accessed May 15, 2009. < >. 3. Norton, R.J. "Lewis Powell". Abraham Lincoln's Assassination. 1996. Accessed May 14, 2009. < ~rjnorton/Lincoln25.html >. 4. "Biographic Sketch of John Wilkes Booth". John Wilkes Booth. Accessed MAy 13, 2009. < >. 5. The Library of Congress. "Introduction". Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. 2002. Accessed May 13, 2009. < >. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated as the Civil War drew to a close - The Washington Post Abraham Lincoln was assassinated as the Civil War drew to a close 150 years ago this month, the president was shot while attending a play in Washington. The inside track on Washington politics. Be the first to know about new stories from PowerPost. Sign up to follow, and we’ll e-mail you free updates as they’re published. You’ll receive free e-mail news updates each time a new story is published. You’re all set!

150 years ago this month, the president was shot while attending a play in Washington. By Marylou Tousignant By Marylou Tousignant April 7, 2015 This portrait of Abraham Lincoln was taken Feb. 9, 1864, a little more than one year before he was killed. (Anthony Berger/Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division) N ortherners whooped it up when they heard that Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered. The Civil War was all but over! The North had won! [ Read our story on the end of the Civil War. ] Five days later, President Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, decided to see a play at Ford’s Theatre, near the White House. The president was tired from the strain of leading the nation through four years of bloodshed. An evening out often lifted his spirits. So on the night of April 14, 1865 — 150 years ago next week — the Lincolns went to the theater. John Wilkes Booth leaps to the stage of Ford's Theatre after shooting Lincoln. The president died the next morning.

(The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana/Library of Congres) ‘The president is shot!’ The actor John Wilkes Booth was hanging around Ford’s Theatre when he heard that the president was coming that night to see “Our American Cousin.” Booth hated Lincoln. The North’s victory meant the end of slavery in the South, a land Booth loved. He had wanted to harm Lincoln for a long time. Now was his big chance. Booth went back to Ford’s that night and sneaked into the presidential box. He carried a small pistol that fired just a single shot. It was all he would need. The view from the president’s box at Ford's Theatre. (Maxwell MacKenzie) At a moment in the play when the audience was laughing and clapping loudly, a muffled noise was heard. People were confused. Was this part of the play? Suddenly a man jumped from the Lincolns’ box onto the stage. Many knew right away who he was, since Booth had acted at Ford’s a few times. Booth yelled something, fled backstage and escaped on horseback. “The president is shot!” a woman screamed. Lincoln, unconscious and bleeding badly from his head wound, was carried across the street to a private home.

Dozens of people crowded in a tiny back bedroom. Outside, a crowd awaited news. Mary Todd Lincoln held out hope that her husband would survive, but the doctors knew he would not. After an agonizing night, Abraham Lincoln died the next morning. He was 56. A portrait of John Wilkes Booth from around 1865. Soldiers found Booth 12 days after he shot Lincoln. (Alexander Gardner/Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division) The hunt for the killer The search for Booth and anyone who helped him began at once. A $100,000 reward was offered. Booth’s escape was slowed by pain in his left leg, which he broke while fleeing. He traveled south through Maryland and across the Potomac River into Virginia. After 12 days, soldiers found him hiding in a barn and shot and killed him. Four people convicted of helping Booth were later hanged. A train took Lincoln’s body back to his home town of Springfield, Illinois. The route traveled through seven states and took nearly two weeks because of the crowds that turned out to mourn him. What happened to . . .

•The nation’s 4 million slaves: The 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in the United States. It became law in December 1865, eight months after Lincoln was killed. •Robert E. Lee: The Confederate general, who at the start of the war declined a top Union command out of loyalty to his home state, became president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. He died there in 1870 at age 63. •Ulysses S. Grant: The Northern commander who accepted Lee’s surrender was elected president of the United States 3 1/2 years later. Grant’s campaign slogan, “Let us have peace,” is engraved on his tomb in New York City. He died in 1885, also at age 63. •John Wilkes Booth: Just 26 when he assassinated the president, he is buried in an unmarked grave in Baltimore.

— Marylou Tousignant Abraham Lincoln carried two pairs of spectacles, a lens polisher, a pocketknife, a watch fob, a linen handkerchief, a brown leather wallet containing a five-dollar Confederate note and a sleeve button in his pockets on the night he was shot at Ford's Theatre. The items can be seen in an exhibit at Ford’s Theatre’s Center for Education and Leadership. (Library of Congress) See for yourself Ford’s Theatre, the Washington playhouse on 10th Street NW where President Lincoln was shot, has several events marking the anniversary. Here are a few: The Lincoln Tribute: A round-the-clock event April 14-15. Tour the theater, watch a one-act play and visit the house where Lincoln died. Costumed actors will re-create the all-night vigil in which people awaited word of the president’s fate. At 7:22 a.m. on the 15th, a wreath-laying will mark the time of his death, and church bells will toll across the city, as they did in 1865. Virtual field trip: Tour Ford’s without leaving your classroom.

Discovery Education and Ford’s created an interactive field trip, which can be viewed April 13-14 at . Tell your teacher that there will be a live question-and-answer session on the 14th. “Silent Witnesses: Artifacts of the Lincoln Assassination”: Priceless items such as the contents of Lincoln’s pockets make up this display at the Center for Education and Leadership, across the street from Ford’s. And visitors to the National Museum of American History can see the coach in which Lincoln rode to the theater. The items will be on display until May 25. Partnered with this exhibit, the Smithsonian Channel will air a special, “Lincoln’s Last Day,” April 13 at 8 p.m. Visitors age 2 and older must have a ticket to visit Ford’s. Some free same-day tickets are available. Tickets bought in advance cost $3.75. For more information, a parent can go to and bit.ly/1HwUvN0 .

Question: Which theatre was Abraham Lincoln attending when he was assassinated?
Answer: Ford